We weren’t too surprised that Rafa has allowed Kevin Mbabu to move permanently to Young Boys on a three year deal, but we also knew he had his supporters on Tyneside and when he did play for Newcastle – only 5 times – he looked a very good player who was very very fast.

He had a great game at home to Chelsea on his starting debut for the club at left back on 26 September, 2015 and he looked a great player in the making – he was terrific in that game – but injuries continued to restrict his playing time for the first team.

Some fans have taken to Twitter to register their disappointment but also to wish the 21 year-old good luck back in Switzerland and there’s no reason he can’t have a very good career there.

But Rafa is thinking big – and we expect a high clearout of players that will include bigger names than Kevin and we would be too surprised if high profile Tim Krul, Siem de Jong, Chancel Mbemba and even Aleksandar Mitrovic could all be ont heir way this summer.

21 year-old defender Kevin Mbabu – sold to Young Boys And Newcastle fans will be upset at some of those players leaving the club – for sure.

Top managers in the game of football really have to be ruthless and we’ll see that coming from Jose Mourinho, Pep Guardiola, Antonio Conte and our very own Rafa Benitez this summer – four of the best 10 managers in the game.

Here’s some pf the tweets after the club announced Kevin Mbabu had been sold and of course we wish the lad all the success in the world in his future football career.

Quality player w/ potential… Rafa must have his eyes peeled on full backs or he wouldn’t have gone ? especially Anita going too #NUFC

Maybe Rafa’s plan is to focus on physically maturity and those free of long term injury history to cope with the intensity of the Premier League and some physically powerful opposition. That would indicate why Mbabu and possibly others such as Krul are earmarked to move on. however I hope Krul is staying as he has Newcastle in his heart. A few rumoured transfers have not developed as players injury history may have been a factor. I suspect that fitness and strength may be needed to persuade Rafa to sign someone providing that they have the skills and experience as well. Definetly need a CF to share the work load with Gayle as a start.

Sorry to see Mbabu has gone. Would have preferred to see him play more matches for us to decide about him. I gather he was injury prone. I wonder how much we got for him? 3M sound about right? We are getting a little kitty together now to spend. Much more needed.

A lot of you have been saying we can’t afford to go without Brocolli in the squad. I agree. We’ve got Gristle but that’s not enough. A well rounded diet is important. I look forward to Rafa’s moves in that direction. Harrumph…..

Yes, you’re the only one Levi. No, just having you on. Rafa will assess him in pre-season if he’s still with us that is. I’m not sure he’s anywhere near robust enough for the Prem, sad to say. Good skillful player otherwise.

Well said lochinvar. You’ve been doing some very deep thinkings there mate. We will need some hardier stock. Look at the sick notes we’ve had over recent years. Andy Carroll, Siem De Jong, Aarons, Vukic, Marveaux, and on and on. Every club has a few but we’ve always been near the top of the injury lists.

Some quotes from Derek McInnes in the Sunderland Daily Suppository: “You lot are a pile of bollocks but I suppose I could give it a try if you pay me enough.” “What sport was that you were playing last season? It vaguely resembled Piggy in the Middle.”

So the transfer kitty now has something like 6.5 M pounds plus some of Joe Kinnear’s old socks. What will that get us in today’s inflated market? How much with Ashley put in? What about some of the parachute money? I just hope we spend enough to really improve the squad.

Oh and another thing. Ibiza has come out and stated in no uncertain terms that he thinks Cyril, my beloved honey badger is actually a dog. Such nefarious statements will not be tolerated. Cyril is upset and off his food (he’s only eaten about 10 squirrels today). I’m upset and off my food (I haven’t eaten any squirrels). This type of innuendo is upsetting and demoralizing to all the lads on here. I hope Ibiza realizes his mistake and throws himself on the mercy of the court. Harrumph……

Well I definitely think this window so far is showing that if we want to step up to the next level, Then the transfer fee we paid out for Owen will be broken this summer. Maguire 17 mill, Pickford 30… yes 30 mill. The days of 1-2-3 million pound players have long gone so come on Ash let’s see for once you give us some hope

One thing for sure is we can no longer p1ss about in the bargain basement for players anymore. When championship players are going at 10m plus we can’t really expect to get better players to keep us up for less. No doubt Rafa will bring in a lot of players from overseas as there is slightly better value but even those markets are catching. This window will be very hard to build the team Rafa wants as even Tammy can’t decide if he can be assed to play for us or Brighton. Fingers and toes crossed we get the squad Rafa wants, stay up and build again.

I think that’s a minimum mate just to survive in the Pl. What did we spend the season we went down ?? We gonna have to break our transfer record just for a half decent player, Never mind dreaming of finishing in the top echelons of the league. Gouffran renewing his contract would be a worry and is Lucas leiva a step up from what we have

Spot on again jazzy. I’m quite worried. Ashley’s purse still lets out moths when he opens it. And yes they are worse than Aberdeen WWSBRD mate. I’m predicting a 22nd place finish for them next season if things go reasonably well. Ben Arfa, yes mate join the group of concerned citizens here on the Blog. This is serious people!!! Get yur wellies on and prepare to march in the streets (check the wellies first of course).

I think the most Ashley spent in one summer was 80M wasn’t it? Or am I dreaming that up? We’ll have to check back. That’s the kind of dosh I’m thinking we need to spend. It may not be enough but it would declare intent from Ash.

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health update

I was diagnosed with stage 4 prostate cancer in February 2017 and completed four months of chemotherapy in late July and will continue to have hormone treatment.

The cancer spread in the bones but it has been stabilized and has not spread further.

I am still recovering from some of the side effects of the chemo treatment - it's mainly severe fatigue and exhaustion.

Stage 4 cancer is not curable so I will continue to have cat scans and bone scans every four months to ensure the cancer is not spreading.

It is as it is - these things happen - and I will do my very best under the circumstances.

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